Matt Walker says it’s vital that Kent ‘dig deep’ to recover from their winless start to the Royal London One-Day Cup campaign as they begin a potentially decisive run of three games in four days.

Last Sunday’s wash-out against Essex and Tuesday’s three-wicket defeat at Glamorgan dented their hopes of repeating last season’s journey to the semi-finals,and Walker knows they need to put points on the board soon with Hampshire visiting Canterbury today (Thursday, 2pm), a trip to Middlesex tomorrow (Friday, 11.30am) and then a return to The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence to host Sussex on Sunday (10.30am).

Walker claimed Tuesday’s loss in Cardiff, in which Kent conceded 103 runs in the final 6.4 overs, was tough to take but insisted they can’t afford to dwell on it as the first half of the one-day campaign will be over by the end of the week.

He said: “It’s tough to take because it’s a game we should have won but we have to move on.

“We can’t dwell on it, that’s the most important thing. We have to clear our minds because before we know it we’re up against Hampshire and the games come thick and fast for a while.

“It’s probably a good thing the next game’s come round quick. We are in a run of five games in eight days in the same competition.

“We have a day/night against Hampshire at Canterbury, then travel straight up to Radlett for an 11.30am start against Middlesex on Friday. This little block takes a lot of courage and character.

“After the wash-out and then a defeat like Tuesday, we have got to dig deep and try to get the boys back firing.

“They know how well they played for most of that game. We were semi-finalists last year and also T20 quarter-finalists so there is lots of confidence in people’s ability.”

He added: “I’m sure the lads are hurting but we’ll learn from it, we’ll do better next time. We have a few lads still finding their feet in this competition.

“There were a lot of positives to take out of it. We batted well, Stevo batted brilliantly, Sam Northeast and Sam Billings, too. We posted a good score and all the way to the 44th over we’d done a decent job.

“We didn’t get it right as a group late on and these days 10-or-12 an over for four or five overs at the end is not out of the question.

“We’ve done it to other sides on occasions. We’re kicking ourselves but have got to get over it.”